This con sketch is for Sightblinder. It’s his RPG character, Kaithan.
Happy holidays dude!

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here!… Read on for more awesome…

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This will be of little interest to anyone who isn’t a gamer, or more especially, isn’t an open-source game developer like me. Margaret Weis, yes THAT Margaret Weis, has licensed the rights to the Marvel RPG game. This initially caused me some alarm. While I don’t use the Marvel RPG stats in my TRDL Sourcebooks, use a generic rule system, TRDL Carbon, which is loosely based on it, in order to make it an easy conversion to that or any other system. This has been done in at least five or six other iterations by other game developers, not all of them for free, predicated on the fact that the old Marvel RPG game was out of print and seemingly abandoned.

Fortunately, the new game will feature her own Cortex Plus Generic Rule System, so that makes me a little more comfortable. I don’t use Marvel RPG stats, but I was inspired by that system, certainly.

Anyway, carry on.

http://www.margaretweis.com/news/116-marvel-mwp-2012

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here!… Read on for more awesome…

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I don’t post enough of my old work, so here’s one. This was the drawing sketched for a friend’s Marvel Super Heroes RPG character, circa about 1990.

Yes, Captain Rutabega.

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here!… Read on for more awesome…

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TRDL 2011 Series, No. 35 – Iron Man vs. Batman [DKR]

Two foes meet spontaneously for the first time. Tony Stark recognizes the killing instinct in his desperate. battle-scarred adversary. Taking no chances, he binds the brute in his own awkward cape and launches him into orbit. The man in the bat costume tries to say something in the first few seconds of acceleration, but the comment is inaudible as veins in his face explode. "Now, what was I thinking about? Ah. Dinner reservations."

This piece was done for an epic Art Battle at Outcast Studios, a Battle Royale competition featuring 32 artists. Round 01, 16 pairings, with the winners moving on to the next round, and so on. The battles are judged on both concept and execution. My character for the series: Iron Man [Current Resilient Armor]. My Round 01 foe: Batman [Dark Knight Returns version]

Lots of ways of going about this battle. Does Stark know Wayne’s coing for him, or vice versa? Have either gathered intelligence on each other? was it an ambush or chance encounter? Both men are brilliant, with Bruce Wayne being more cunning, and Tony Stark being smarter. Tony plans chess moves upon chess moves. Wayne does his homework. Also, how realistic do we take this? Like my old supers RPG campaigns, is it slugfests or does each of them wait outside the other’s penthouses with a sniper rifle? For the purposes of this exercise, I chose to make it a spontaneous, no-holds-barred confrontation. I decided that if Stark is as smart as I believe he is, he’d know not to underestimate Batman. Better to take him out as fast as possible. I thought about him punching hole in Batman’s chest, or repulsoring his face off, but there was something satisfying about the humiliation … Read on for more awesome…

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This illustration was done for one of my long-time clients, for whom I’ve done several character designs for his supers-based RPG campaigns.

Holocauste are a French super villain team with a shared nuclear power base. They were described thus:

When a single of their number rose up into the air and began moving towards Jackson, a colorfully clad woman who trailed a stream of dazzling orange light behind her, the UN troops on the ground took up positions and aim. Nightingale was shouting something as well, but it was clear that the next move belonged to the American.

* * *

The pickup truck Mu’azzazz had thrown turned over in the air as it sailed towards the back of the aircraft, towards the metahumans who had held their ground as one of their number took to the air and roared off towards the genie’s master. The long-haired, shapely leader of the infamous mercenary group Holocauste — and the most human appearing — Réacteur soared across the sky, borne by the deadly nuclear energies that permeated every member of the … Read on for more awesome…

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Here’s more from the vault…

I wasn’t the EARLIEST computer-art adopter, but I was pretty early.
Witness my very first entirely CGI image, which was courtesy of Mac Paint!

Mouse action! Gradients galore!

As you can see, these were cyberpunk pics from my high school days. They don’t stand up to the test of time, but I was pretty into it. I would do these pics, then paste them into RPG character sheets. This, along with all of my hand drawn and colored work, and other game materials that all went back through the previous 4 or 5 years, all culminated in my continued interest in ways to take my art digital, but keep the hand-drawn process intact. My first scanner, along with Photoshop and later my first stylus, kicked into the modern period, but these were the seeds of that effort…

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here!… Read on for more awesome…

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1. Thomfoolery from the Vault: Captain Rutabega
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3. Thomfoolery From the Vault: First Cel

This illustration was done for the TRDL R3 Illustration Jam, the subject being Marvel’s Thor…

This was somewhat topical, given all the recent stuff released about next summer’s Thor film. I never LIKED Thor as a solo book all that much as a kid. I liked him in the Avengers, I liked his anachronistic exclamations… I even own about 30 issues of the title from the Simonson days. But the Asgardian stuff was often, much like Marvel’s spacey business, a little beyond my interest level growing up. To me, Asgard and all the Asgardians and their foes were merely characters in the Marvel Super Heroes RPG for me to destroy.

But boy, do I love the relaunch, thanks to Coipiel’s art. Man oh man. Makes me actually WANT to read the stuff.

The original concept of this piece was to have Thor standing over the fallen torso of the Destroyer sentient armor. Then I saw this occur in the comics recently and felt swiped, so I planned a different direction (him standing on Surtur’s giant face)… but then I said to hell with it, and drew the Destroyer helmet anyway, and eliminated the full figure. It was the helmet I wanted to show anyway, more than the largely uninteresting armor itself. I wanted to show it empty. Anyway, there we are. Current Thor costume, etc.

Please enjoy!

:::

You can find a larger version here.

You can see this illustration herein the TRDL Tribute Gallery.

:::

Process Notes:

I started with the current costume, which I adore actually…

SInce the original concept was to have him standing over the body, one leg up, I drew this roughly, focused on Thor, and decided I’d do Destroyer digitally, as I was working late at night and didn’t have reference for … Read on for more awesome…

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This was done for the R3 Illustration jam on Third Rail Design Lab’s R3 Forum, the subject being the late-70′s superfad KISS-tie-in character Dazzler, formerly notKnown as Disco Queen, in the hands of Casablanca.

I never, never, NEVER liked Dazzler. I was born in the early 70s, but I wasn’t old enough to disco or what have you, and so this sort of music had supplanted Cream, the Beatles, the Doors and the Stones as the annoying music piped out of the fraternities across the street from my childhood home near UCLA. Granted, I don’t remember disliking the psychedelic rock particularly, it just made for awkward background music for my action figure action. But the disco? Hated it, even as a kid. So when Marvel was shoe-horning Dazzler into continuity to take advantage of the KISS promo books, I wasn’t having it. Over time the character kept coming back, and was a small component of the greater problem in the X-books when I left comics for awhile in the Siege Perilous years. MEH! Of course, 33,000 hours of studying my Marvel Handbooks, followed by a good run of a Marvel RPG campaign in which I believe she was strangled by Doctor Octopus, helped me at least see the character as part of the Marvel Universe, not just a bad superfad angle. And as an adult reader, I look back on pretty much everything from those days with the same level of wonder and nostalgia, and it doesn’t even bother me anymore. She’s just another attempt to sell books, and who can fault that.

Anyway, OK. This TRDL pin-up was envisioned as a fictitious movie poster. You’ll note I’m not a great caricaturist, but that’s supposed to be Isla Fisher as Dazzler, in full 70s regalia. Probably should have feathered the … Read on for more awesome…

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It’s about half-way to the deadline, so if you haven’t started your Friends of TRDL gallery project piece, now’s a good time! Thanks to everyone who have sent me their stuff already! Here’s the details:

Welcome to Third Rail Design Lab’s first ever ‘Friends of TRDL’ gallery project!

The concept is simple: we’re ramping up for some new releases this year, including new editions of the TRDL worldbuilding sourcebooks, a site gallery facelift, and a sequential art release. In the meantime, we’ve had a number of friends produce original art pin-ups based on various characters in the TRDL Universe, and they’ve blown us away. So, we decided to make it a thing.

For the next 33 days, we are holding our first ever open call for original art set in the TRDL Universe. The promotion is open to everyone: members of the R3 Forum, art collaborators we’ve worked with in the past, friends from outside of the comic genre, artist associates, you name it. As in keeping with the tradition of the art jams on our forum, any medium, and any skill level, are welcomed. We want you to pick your favorite TRDL characters and draw em up with 100% minimum awesome.

The Particulars:

What: The 2010 Friends of TRDL Gallery Project

When: 33 days, ending on 13 February 2010

How: Draw your favorite TRDL characters in pencil, pen, color; digital, colored pencil, Pentel, Prismacolor, oil canvas, whatever. The context of this project is comic art, so certainly color comic-style art is recommended, but anything goes that inspires you will work.

The Goods: Everyone who participates will have their work featured in Third Rail Design Lab trade dress on our main illustration site as a special gallery. In addition, we will select favorites from the pool and they will be … Read on for more awesome…

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1. Announcing the 2010 Friends of TRDL Gallery Project!
2. Update: Friends of TRDL Gallery Project
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Welcome to Third Rail Design Lab’s first ever ‘Friends of TRDL’ gallery project!

The concept is simple: we’re ramping up for some new releases this year, including new editions of the TRDL worldbuilding sourcebooks, a site gallery facelift, and a sequential art release. In the meantime, we’ve had a number of friends produce original art pin-ups based on various characters in the TRDL Universe, and they’ve blown us away. So, we decided to make it a thing.

For the next 33 days, we are holding our first ever open call for original art set in the TRDL Universe. The promotion is open to everyone: members of the R3 Forum, art collaborators we’ve worked with in the past, friends from outside of the comic genre, artist associates, you name it. As in keeping with the tradition of the art jams on our forum, any medium, and any skill level, are welcomed. We want you to pick your favorite TRDL characters and draw em up with 100% minimum awesome.

The Particulars:

What: The 2010 Friends of TRDL Gallery Project

When: 33 days, ending on 13 February 2010

How: Draw your favorite TRDL characters in pencil, pen, color; digital, colored pencil, Pentel, Prismacolor, oil canvas, whatever. The context of this project is comic art, so certainly color comic-style art is recommended, but anything goes that inspires you will work.

The Goods: Everyone who participates will have their work featured in Third Rail Design Lab trade dress on our main illustration site as a special gallery. In addition, we will select favorites from the pool and they will be included in hardcopy published work as a bonus section. In addition, everyone who enters will be given a promo discount towards upcoming TRDL merch. But we hope it’s about the fun of an art project … Read on for more awesome…

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1. 2010 Friends of TRDL Gallery Project: 1/2 Way Point Reminder
2. Update: Friends of TRDL Gallery Project
3. TRDL Special Project: Team Lope AIDS Fundraiser 2010